Oxford Township's hopes of becoming a certified acceptance facility for U.S. passport applications were dashed.

Clerk Curtis Wright received a letter from the Detroit Passport Agency informing him the township office at 300 Dunlap Rd. was not approved by the U.S. Department of State to be a designated Passport Acceptance Facility.

"I was shocked and disappointed," Wright said. "We thought we were in and ready to go."

The reason for the rejection?

Apparently, this area is "over-served" by other facilities, such as post offices and government offices, in Lake Orion, Metamora, Brandon, Ortonville, Dryden, Clarkston, Goodrich, Rochester, Pontiac and Lapeer.

"It's too bad," Wright said. "It's another service we could have provided."

Wright is especially disappointed given the many hours of on-line and on-site (in Detroit) training he and his employees, Renee Wilson and Susan McCullough, underwent to pass the exam to become an acceptance facility.